


Wolf In The Woods

by LilSugarCube



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series, 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, 悪魔城ドラキュラＸ ～血の輪廻～ | Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, wolf time babyy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:07:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23939629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilSugarCube/pseuds/LilSugarCube
Summary: A young candle maker runs into a strange wolf one day. Little did she know he would become her protector.
Relationships: Alucard (Castlevania)/Reader, Alucard (Castlevania)/You, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Reader, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/You
Comments: 13
Kudos: 208





	1. Stop Peeking

**Author's Note:**

> Ooof I think I went a little over board with the set up I apologize I hope all chapters wont be this long...or at least this long and boring. This takes place after season 2 I want to ignore bad things that happened to my boy in season 3 so we just gunna pretend that didn't happen Ok? Ok. Honestly I'm writing this to indulge myself because I am obsessed with this pretty boy right now and like he can turn into big puppy!! People don't mention that enough!!!  
> Just a quick mention of non-con in this but nothing actually happens in this chapter so enjoy!

You wish you could say that things were better now that the night hordes weren’t mass attacking the people of Wallachia every night. However, that would be a lie. Although the night creatures were not descending onto your small town like a cloud of locust, it wasn’t uncommon for people to not come back from trying to sell their wares in the next town over. A couple children that have even gone missing because they didn’t heed their parents warning about dicking around in the woods after the sun went down.

Although, considering you lived through all the attacks and currently you could provide for yourself, anyone would consider you very lucky. Not that you haven’t been affected by the night creature hordes at all. You now live on your own because of these past events and other unfortunate circumstances. Your mother died when you were about 10 because she got sick during the harsh winter that year and unfortunately never recovered. Your father’s death was still emotionally tasking to think about. He died about 3 months ago while trying to protect you from the night creatures. Tears well up in the corner of your eyes as you recall memories of him. You used to help your father run the family business, candlemaking, but now everything is on your shoulders. He would be in charge of the business side of things while you made the candles. You started helping you mom make them, before she passed, at a very young age and it was obvious you had a talent for it. As you got older your dad started to joke that you made better candles than your mother much to her dismay. Whenever he would make such comments you always remembered your mom rolling her eyes and shaking her head, but the smile on her face and the pride in her eyes was obvious.

You dip the last batch of candles into the wax one more time and hang them up to allow them to dry. You quickly wipe the tears from your eyes and try to focus on the task at hand. After putting out the fire under the pot of wax and put away the equipment you were using you decide a break is long overdue. You had been very productive the past week and had made enough candles that you could easily fulfill orders for the next few days, maybe even the rest of the week if business was slow. 

You felt a little better after changing out of your dirty work clothes and into a simple dress more fit for today's activities you had planned. After splashing some water on your face from the basin you had and running a brush through your hair a few times you looked at yourself in your small hand mirror and chuckled to yourself and thought “That is about as good as it's going to get right now” You looked over at your work clothes and a few other dresses you owned and you nose scrunched up at the realization that you were not the only object in this house who needed a good scrubbing as soon as possible.

*************************************************************************************************************  
Once you got to the town’s center you made a beeline for your favorite produce stall. This particular vendor was an old friend of your dad. They have known each other since they were very young and since your father’s passing it seems he has taken upon himself to be your second father figure. You couldn’t be more grateful, but often find yourself at loss of how to repay him back for all that he does for you. As you walk up to the stall you greet your friend with a small smile. “Afternoon Garreth, how are you and the wife holding up?” He jumps a little at the sound of your voice since he was preoccupied with taking inventory just a second ago. Once he realizes who is greeting him his once stern face breaks out into a wide grin. “Ah....There is my favorite girl. We are doing okay! We got in a small fight last night because she has been on a dress making kick lately and as you know fabric ain’t cheap. I think she is on her third dress now my god I am going to have to start hiding the coins in a better spot”. His face scrunched up in thought as if he was trying to think of a solution. “Anyway, although it's bad news for me it is good news for you... I am sure she will give you one when it is all said and done”. He shook his head, “Anyway, enough of my ramblings. How may I help you today?” 

You giggled, “Well, I have been diligent with my work lately so I thought I would reward myself with a lunch picnic today at my favorite spot today. So, an apple or two would be great”. You put your large basket on top of the stall careful not to knock anything over. “Also probably going to try and get my laundry done while I am over there”. 

He frowns as he scans his stock of apples trying to make sure he chooses the best ones for you. “I really wish you wouldn’t go out in the woods so often by yourself.” You open your mouth to protest but he cuts you off. “Tsk! Before you sass me I know you are mindful of only going into the woods when the sun is up. However! It’s not like daylight banishes all danger... especially for a young lady such as yourself.” His eyes full of worry as he places three shiny apples in your basket. He crosses his arms and looks down, “Perhaps I should close the stall and accompany you. I would even bring the wifey with me and we can all go together?” He looks up at you, hopeful you will accept his offer. 

You swallow hard, your voice shaky as you reject his kind offer. It hurt to reject his kindness but it hurt your pride even more having to be escorted around like a little girl. “I would feel so guilty if you lost some sales today becaue of me. Besides, you don’t have to leave your stall to protect me.” You pat the small knife he gave you months ago that is slung around your waist. Garreth looks like he is about to say something, but now it is your turn to cut him off. You dig into your basket “Before I forget...here.” You place two candles on the stall along with coins for the apples. 

He hums happily as he picks up one of the candles and inspects your beautiful floral design you carved into the wax. “Hum.. you spoil me…” He gives the candle a quick sniff. “Scented too! You are supposed to be selling these to your top shelf customers, not giving them to me”! He jabs you in the ribs with his elbow, teasing you about the occasional wealthy customers that come to the little town just to buy your candles because they are so beautifully made. The local church even buys all the premium candles they need from you for special sermons because you have made such a name for yourself. 

You can feel your face heat up as you pick up your basket to leave. “Nonsense. I think you spoil me even more. Anyway, I must get going before my stomach decides to eat itself from lack of food.” As you head towards the edge of town Garreth shouts over to you to be safe and you notice he has a mischievous grin on his face. You look into your basket and see the coins you gave to him were slipped back to you when you weren’t paying attention. 

“Damn! I hate it when he does that!” You mutter to yourself as you slip the coins back into the proper coin bag you had in your basket.

*************************************************************************************************************

Your favorite spot in the woods was a sunny clearing deep in the woods where herbs and a few different wild flowers grew. You often went there to collect fragrant greenery for your candles to mix into the wax. To top it all off the spot was about a 5 minute walk from a stream that was great for doing laundry. You couldn’t help but feel excited because you haven’t been able to come here for a little while because you have been so busy fulfilling orders or because the weather was bad. Shortly after arriving you walk to the stream and do your laundry. You hang your clothes up to dry on a tree on the edge of the clearing and eat a filling lunch consisting of dried deer meat, bread, cheese, and an apple. 

As you soak up some sun and lazily pick some much needed flowers for your next batch of premium candles you comment to yourself as you look around, “I am surprised that despite the nice weather today I have not run into anyone from town. Perhaps it would be safe to bathe in the stream then…” You pick up your basket and walk to the stream leaving your clothes behind to dry and hummed as you thought about finally having the chance to bathe considering its been at least a week since your last one. “Heh! I can’t wait to try that lavender soap Gareth’s wife gifted me the last time I went over for dinner”!

************************************************************************************************************  
Around that time Alucard had just walked out of his castle to take in the scenery. It was such a nice day and it was a shame he couldn’t enjoy it due to his bad mood. It had only been about 2 weeks since Trevor and Sypha left and the loneliness was starting to set in. As he tucked a lock of his blonde hair behind his ear the image of Trevor chugging one of the few wine bottles that was not smashed to pieces during the fight with his father right before the couple took off to continue to fight what is remaining of the night hordes. If the dhampir wasn’t mistaken he is sure Trevor also most likely took a bottle or two for himself to enjoy on the road because there seemed to be a few less bottles in the already mostly destroyed wine collection after they left in search for adventure. He made an audible sound of disgust as he could almost hear the Belmont burp in his ears after helping himself to what's left of his wine. “Okay, well I dunno about that idiot but it definitely would be nice to carry a conversation with Sypha right now.” He scoffed then his shoulders slumped at the thought of going back into the castle with no one to talk to. “I might as well walk around since the weather is so nice…but maybe I should do so as a wolf so on the off chance I run into somebody they won’t bother me”. As he approaches the edge of the woods he can feel his body change shape. He sighs as his body relaxes into it’s now canine shape and as he does so he catches the faint smell of lavender in the air. “It’s a little too early for lavender to be at peak bloom yet”. His curiosity getting the best of him he starts to follow the scent to the source, his paws softly thudding against the grass as he strides deeper into the woods.

*************************************************************************************************************  
You hum to yourself as you finish up your bath. Seeing that the weather just started to get warm the water was terribly cold still, but your need to be clean was far more important than the discomfort the water temperature caused. Plus the lovely scent from the lavender soap was doing a good job of keeping your mind off the cold water. “I don’t know how she got this kind of soap this time of year, but it is just what I needed. Actually, knowing her she probably asked Garreth to pick her up something nice while he was traveling for business a while ago and decided to give some to me but kept forgetting to give it to me until recently. Gosh she is so sweet but is a bit scatterbrained at times”.

After rinsing yourself off one last time, you sat on a nearby rock and let the sun rays dry you off while you tried to get excess water out of your hair. A few minutes pass and you think to yourself you are probably dry enough to slip out dress back on, but then you hear some rustling in the bushes nearby. 

You freeze up.

Not thinking you almost call out to ask who is there, but you think twice. What if the person nearby is a man? It would be a terrible idea to call attention to yourself since you are out here alone and naked. You cover your breast with your hands instinctively at the thought of a strange man happening upon you and leering at you while he thinks about what he could get away with doing to you considering no one else is around. The rustling gets louder and you can feel your heart beating faster as your brain screams at you to move but your body doesn't listen. 

A beautiful white wolf with piercing gold eyes exits out of the bushes. He makes no noise as his ears perk up at the sight of you.

Your body relaxes for a second happy that a strange man wasn’t about to force himself on you, but then as realization sets in you start to shake and tears form in the corner of your eyes as you realize this situation may arguably be worse. Strangely enough the wolf’s ears then press down against his skull, but yet he isn’t crouching, or growling, or showing any signs of aggression. If you weren’t so scared you could say he almost looks embarrassed for walking in on you during such a private moment. Or maybe he was just waiting to see what you would do next so he could decide how to make you into his next meal.


	2. Lavender Lady

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot shorter than the previous one hah! Uhh no warnings besides mention of nudity I guess? There will be a little puppy time in this chapter..enjoy!

Once he realized what he was looking at, Alucard froze. “Of course”! He thought to himself. “It would be my luck to run into a poor human woman and end up terrifying her while I am just trying to enjoy the scenery”. Then his mind fully registers the fact that this particular woman was naked and doing a terrible job of covering herself up. He feels his ears instinctively flatten against his head as shame and embarrassment sets in. Oh how disgusting of him! Here he is intruding on a young lady’s private moments and what's worse is because of the shock his body won't obey his brain which is telling him to look away. Then he notices the young lady is shaking, clearly scared. Now on top of all the other emotions coursing through his body now guilt was starting to wash over him as well. Even though he did use this form to deter people from interacting with him doesn't mean he wanted to scare them to death. “There is a simple solution, just turn around and leave”. Yet again his body didn’t obey. The poor thing looked like she was going to burst into tears, he almost wanted to comfort her and reassure her that she is safe around him. As he caught himself thinking that he mentally scolded himself. “Do not do such a thing! Just walk away! You don’t need or deserve anymore friends and it is not like the little lady would be happy to have a big scary wolf as company”. Yet he could feel himself walking towards her now. 

“Fuck! You idiot”! He mentally screams at himself as he stops about 2 feet away from her and flops onto the soft grass to indicate submission. He lets out a big sigh as he finally resigns to the fact that the human side of him could not just leave this woman traumatized from a naked run in with a wolf. He makes sure to have his back to her, finally giving her some privacy. “I guess...it would be a shame if I just scared her and left. I mean, she clearly enjoys it out here and feels safe here considering she is taking a bath out here. Alone with no escort to keep lookout to keep her safe”. 

You can’t believe your eyes as you watch the wolf stride towards you only to lay down in the grass near you as if he was a common dog just sitting close by wanting to be close to his master. As you start to calm down you can feel your body start to relax. As soon as you gain back your composure you snatch your dress off the rock next to the one you are sitting on and quickly slip it on. You take a deep breath and look back at the wolf in disbelief. “This must be a dream”! You thought as the wolf twists his head to look back at you as if to check on you and make sure you are finally decent. You watch him with your mouth slightly ajar as he rolls onto his back displaying his belly. Out of instinct you kneel down near him and reach out to run your hands through his fur. “Oh no. What the hell am I doing? This isn't one of the strays that hang out in the town center. This is a damn wolf”. Yet you continue to run your fingers through his fur. It’s so soft, no wonder wealthy people love to wear animal pelts in the winter. It’s so warm and comforting. You can feel the wolf melt under your touch as he sighs contently. You smile as you think how adorable this is. He is just like a big puppy. Then your heart stops as you see him start to roll over to face you. Fearing that he may bite or worse you jump up and start running away. You could hear a whimper behind you but you ignored it despite the fact it made your heart ache a little.   
You are panting loudly as you run back towards town, ignoring the twigs and low growing foliage that scrape against your ankles as you run as fast as you can. As you are running you realize you left all your belongings. You could always try to recover at least some of it later. After all, items can almost always be replaced. You start to slow down as the trees start to thin out some, indicating you are nearing the edge of the forest and about to enter the outskirts of town.

Once you finally break through the trees, you wheeze and collapse onto the ground. You look around to see if anyone from town was nearby and luckily no one was close enough to really notice you. You sigh sort of thankful for that because you didn’t want people worrying about you, and you especially did not want anyone to start panicking because they think whatever had you scared might also endanger the town. After about 10 minutes you finally catch your breath and wipe the sweat from your brow. As you start to head back home you think to yourself, “When I decide to try and go back for my things I am definitely having someone come with me”.

Back in the forest Alucard was looking off into the distance in the direction the woman ran to. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness as he got up deciding it was best to head back towards his castle. 

“Damn. I ended up scaring her anyway. I guess it is for the best”. He tries to convince himself that he is okay with what happened as he drags himself back home.


	3. Forgotten Things

It has been about a week since the run in with the strange wolf. You are itching to go back into the woods to see if your things were still there. The wolf must have moved on by now, right? You figure the coins you left in your basket are long gone but at the very least maybe you could retrieve your clothes. Since you were doing laundry when you were out there, those few dresses are essentially all of your wardrobe.   
However, you didn’t want to go alone in case the wolf came back. So, since Garreth was leaving town on business you asked him to drop you off nearby since he was going in that direction anyway to leave town. You didn’t want to worry him so you made up an excuse that you wanted to go out there for some herbs and have the chance to say goodbye to him before he left for who knows how long. Although the situation is convenient you didn’t like it when he left town.   
“I really wish you wouldn’t go on business trips. Your wife and I get so worried that one day you won’t come back.” You cross your arms and pout a little.   
Focused on the road Garreth doesn't look at you when he speaks. “I could say the same to you about wandering in these damn woods by yourself”. His body sags a little as his voice grows softer. “I have to do this, some of the neighboring towns have had all of not most of their fruit vendors killed and their farms and orchards have not completely recovered from all the fires.. They need someone like me to come by every once in a while at least. Plus, I have told you before, I don’t travel at night and even during the day when I do I try to hire a young man or two to help be on the lookout and protect me during my travels”. He sighs, “To make it worse some of the other vendors around this area go to those towns and charge ridiculous prices because they know they can get away with it. I mean, of course since I am going through the pains of traveling to bring goods to them I have to charge more, but I am reasonable”!   
You can’t help but smile and put a hand on his shoulder. “The world would be so much nicer if there were more people like you”. You give him a quick peck on the cheek and giggle as he tries to hide his embarrassment by looking off to the side.   
As the cart gets closer to where you are going to be dropped off, you start to scan the area for any signs of predatory animals being in the area. To your relief you don’t see anything that would indicate a wolf being around here recently. What is even better is you haven’t seen any deer or rabbit, so there isn’t much incentive for a wolf to be in this area either. The cart finally rolls to a stop. Before you get out you give your friend a hug and wish him luck and safety on your travels. You wash him disappear down the trail waving until you can’t see him anymore. You then start to walk away from the dirt path towards your favorite spot.  
You try to focus on the chirping of the birds to calm your nerves as you get closer to the clearing. You notice that your hands are shaking as you push through the last patch of bushes to enter the space. An involuntary sigh escapes your lips as you enter the clearing seeing that no animal or person is present besides you. You glance over to the tree where you hung up your clothes and your heart leaps. “Thank God! They are still here”! You think as you excitedly walk over to your dresses, happy that you won’t have to go through the expensive process of buying a new wardrobe. If your clothes are still here, maybe you will get lucky and find your basket near the stream. To be honest you cared more about the basket than what was in it. The basket was your mother’s, in fact, she hand weaved it herself. You did not care if someone took all the coins and other miscellaneous things you had in it; you just wanted the basket back at least. You take a dress down and hum happily as you fold it up neatly to make it easier to carry. As you reach for your second dress you hear a whining noise behind you.   
You freeze. You slowly turn your head to look back to see that white wolf behind you. You almost scream but you notice something strange. He has your basket in his mouth. You also notice he is sitting and wagging his tail like an obedient retriever, pleased that he brought something back to his master. Your body relaxes and you stand up straight. Surely if he meant to attack you he would have done it while your back was turned. Right? Your heart sinks a little when you hear another whine escape his mouth. You can’t help but ask him a question, not expecting an answer. “You can’t be a wolf. You got to be an unusually large dog. Or maybe one of those Wolfdogs that occasionally pop up due to mingling of the feral domestic dogs and the wolves in the area”? The wolf then stretches his neck out as if he is trying to hand you your basket. You take it hesitantly and stutter out a thank you.   
You almost laugh in disbelief as he stretches and shakes himself as if he is pleased with his good deed. He turns to leave and before you can stop yourself you shout “wait”! He turns back and looks at you as if he understands your words. “Oh, shit. You must be a dog or something like that if you can understand me. U-Uhhm! Can you stay? At least a few minutes? Thank you again for bringing me my basket. It means a lot to me. My mom made it so it's very important to me”. Why did you say all of that? Even if he is a dog he probably only understands a few commands. He snorts at your dog comment as if he is insulted, but nonetheless he flops down onto the ground at your request.   
You roll your eyes. “Oh sorry! It’s just wolves usually don’t go up to humans and hand them baskets! I promise I won’t take long, at least stay until I finish folding my clothes”. You give him a quick pat on his head as thanks for putting up with you and then take the dress you already folded in your basket and go back to finishing up folding the rest of your laundry.   
Alucard was taken aback by her dog comment. He had to put all his effort into not rolling his eyes at her, she wasn’t Trevor and Sypha. He can’t just joke around with a young maiden he doesn't know. That would be rude. But him? Son of Dracula? A dog? “If I was a dog at the very least I would be some top of the line breed. Not some wolf-dog-mutt abomination”. Despite having to hear you unintentional insults he was relieved to be able to catch you again so he could return your things. Also, he would feel a little guilty if he scared you away from the woods. Especially since most humans still need to go into the woods to gather things they need, like herbs and such.   
Once you have all of your things folded neatly in your basket you get up to leave. Before you start to walk off you look back at the wolf and give him a big smile. “Thank you again so much I really mean it. I know you probably can’t understand me, but I would really like to see you again. It is nice to have company.”   
Alucard watches her walk away. Her question caught him by surprise. She seems like a charming young lady but the question in his mind is, Even if she supposedly wants his company does he want hers? Or more importantly, does he deserve her company? Or anyone’s on that thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow updates, it is the end of the semester for me. But hopefully i can update more frequently when the semester ends.


	4. Budding Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the slow update but it is here now!

Against his better judgement, Alucard did come back to spend time with the young maiden regularly. For the past two weeks, if the weather was nice he could almost guarantee that she was there waiting for him to accompany her. His go to excuse for meeting up with the young lady at the moment was that it would be ungentlemanly to allow her to roam through the woods without an escort knowing very well what dangers await out there. Although, that excuse is so weak he can’t deny that truly he craves company, because being alone in an expansive castle doesn't really help keep one’s mind off the fact that your only friends left without him to go out and adventure.   
The dhampir is suddenly snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of her humming. Currently his companion is sitting down leaned against a tree while carving a design into a candle. He wonders if he should give her more space as she works because currently his large body is curled around her in a protective semicircle. Truthfully, she probably doesn't need room to do something like carving a candle, but he doesn't feel he deserves the comfort of human contact.   
His thoughts are interrupted by a hand scratching behind his ear and then running down his head until it gets to his thick neck fur. Alucard doesn't even notice his tail is wagging until she comments on the fact with a giggle. Damn. He swears sometimes his tail has a mind of its own when he is in this form. Luckily, she is preoccupied with her task and shortly goes back to her carving.   
After spending a few afternoons together he learns his new frien-...err...acquaintance is a candlemaker. Although she is an exceptionally skilled one at that. He can tell her work is of high quality. Clearly she is not just the average young woman that makes a few candles for her family to save them some coin when she has time after other domestic obligations are done. She clearly spends most of her day working on her craft. Although, knowing that the nearby town isn’t exactly a large and prosperous one, the order she is currently working on must be something extra special. Not only has she infused the wax with a wonderful floral scent, but she has spent the last half hour carving flowering tree branches into the candle’s surface. Clearly inspired by her surroundings at the moment. Watching her work is mesmerizing. Honestly he could watch her do this for hours, something about watching her delicate hands slowly turn a candle into a small work of art is nothing short of amazing.   
Hopefully one day when he feels it is safe to show his true self to her, he could commission her to make some candles for his dining room. That would definitely help the place feel less depressing. Also, maybe some scented ones to be used in the bathing room would make getting clean a true luxury. Especially if he put some flower petals in the water to go with it, maybe get a hold of some fine soap too.  
His thoughts of a luxurious bath are then interrupted by a sigh. He looks up at her curiously wondering why their serene moment was interrupted by thoughts of worry. Her worried eyes meet his curious ones and she answers with an awkward smile and an apology. She then goes on to tell him that children have started to go missing from her village again. Her voice is laced with worry as she comments on how that has not happened for a little while, but it seems to have started up recently again. So far only one child has gone missing but she comments on how she fears that it won’t stop at just that.   
Alucard nudges her to comfort her and makes a mental note to spend the next few nights patrolling for night creatures. Odds are that’s the source of the problem, and night creatures near the village means they are near his home and he hates the thought of the remains of his father’s army going unchecked around this area. After all, what is the point of going through all the past effort of killing his own father to protect the human race from extinction, if he just lets the night creatures finish his father’s bidding. After some more comforting she seems to feel better and goes back to her task. Pleased with his good deed he goes back to watching her carve.  
His eyes snap open to the sight of a forest bathed in soft gold light. Fuck. He must have fallen asleep. A small snore from right above his head indicates that his companion has as well. He panics at the realization that night is coming, fast. It would be terribly unsafe for her to stay out here and she must get home immediately. He leaps up and tugs on her dress with urgency. She whines at the disturbance but as her drowsiness subsides her eyes grow wide at the realization of what time it is. She stands up and gathers her things while she mumbles to herself that some older lady in the village will be worried sick if she doesn’t get back home before dark.  
After double checking that she has all her belongings she starts to walk off after a quick thanks. However, that doesn't sit right with Alucard, and he trails right behind her so he can escort her to the edge of the forest. She quickly realizes what he is doing and giggles and comments on his caring action. If wolves could blush his face would be very pink at the moment. Maybe he should have trailed farther behind so she wouldn’t notice his presence.   
Eventually, they reach the edge of the forest as the sun just starts to touch the horizon. The girl comments on how she has just enough time to check in with her friend before going home and runs off leaving him alone with his thoughts. He watches her disappear into the distance as the sky becomes darker each passing minute. A few minutes after she is out of his line of sight he starts to head back home. He is barely halfway there when it becomes nightfall completely. As soon as darkness covers the forest he feels an unsettling presence. He scans the area and growls as a warning to whoever or whatever may be nearby. Strangely, the heavy presence is gone shortly after his warning.   
Whatever that was, it left the area too fast to be another large animal. Perhaps, it was a good thing he accompanied her to the edge of the forest despite the embarrassment he felt a short while ago.


	5. I Should Have Protected Them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayy a little bit of action and angst this time.

You wipe your brow as you finish your last batch of candles for the evening. With summer just around the corner you thought you would have more free time. Usually more daylight means less of a need for candles. However, the town’s church just requested you to make a big batch for them. Apparently the clergy get so wrapped up in their work, they often are up late working even when the rest of the town is asleep.   
You slump down onto your work bench for a moment to rest before you clean up your work area. Honestly, it is such a shame you had to spend such a beautiful day working almost nonstop with the exception of a few bathroom and food breaks. It would have been a wonderful day to relax in the woods with your four legged friend. As you start to clean up, your body starts to ache as if to protest doing any more work for the day. You do your best to push through it and decide that tonight you will go to the tavern to eat dinner because you doubt you have the energy to cook tonight. After cleaning up, you drag yourself into your humble home to change out of your work dress. As you close your door to head towards the tavern you feel your cheeks heat up as your stomach growls loudly as if to tell you to hurry up and get some food in you.   
After what feels like forever, you finally get some food set down in front of you and to your surprise a mug of beer as well although you didn’t order one. Before you can say anything the waitress pats you on the shoulder and comments on how you look with a chuckle, “It’s on the house dear! You look like you need it. It’s unfortunately not cold as much as I would love to get you a nice cold drink, it is almost impossible to keep stuff cold with the weather getting increasingly warmer”.   
You scoff into your drink and take a big gulp. You frown at the confirmation of the fact that your drink is grossly warm. However, you aren’t one to turn down a free beer. You look up at the waitress and force a small smile and thank her. As you take your first bite of food, she sits down across from you, despite the protest of a few customers who are drunkenly awaiting their next round of alcoholic drinks. You shake your head, “Don’t let me distract you from your work. I don’t want to be the cause of any trouble due to an upset customer”. You finally focus on her face as you say that and realize she has served you a few times before when you have come to the tavern. You even see her out around town sometimes, but unfortunately you don’t know her well enough to recall her name and you are too tired and embarrassed to even bother to ask at the moment.   
She dismisses your concern with a wave of her arm, “I usually take a break around now anyway, I might as well do so now while there is someone I can talk to”. She flashes you a big smile, “ It is not like any of these drunks are good conversationalists. Anyway, how was your day dear”?   
Not wanting to even think about working, you try to change the subject. “Busy as usual, but I would rather hear about what has been going on with you”, you eat some more while awaiting a response. The young lady’s eyes light up as if she has been waiting for someone to ask her that question for a while. Oh no. You might have unintentionally opened a can of worms you did not mean to. It’s not that you didn’t care about other people in your town, in fact when you are out and about you often ask anyone who stops you for some conversation how they are doing and genuinely want to know what has been going on with them. However, this particular evening you just did not have the energy to be that attentive.   
The waitress threw her hands in the air, clearly frustrated. “I would say good if my little one was not being so difficult”. She paused and put her fingers up to her lips in thought, “Well I guess I can’t say he is little anymore seeing he is 10 now and growing like a weed. He is so cute though he looks just like me, but like if I were a boy”! She realizes she is rambling and shakes her head, “Anyway, my issue is typical young boy behavior, but it is the situation that makes it so dangerous”.  
You swallow your food uncomfortably as you notice her fighting back tears. You have a bad feeling and you give your full attention to her, food no longer at the front of your mind.   
Her voice lowers to a whisper and it is hard to hear her over the background noise of the tavern. Her hands fold in front of her tightly, “As much as I emphasize to my baby that he needs to be home before dark, he seems to love pushing the boundaries of his curfew. Sometimes he gets home mere minutes before it goes completely dark. My husband and I even caught him a few times trying to sneak out with a few other village boys in the middle of the night. I don’t know what to do… I am so scared that one day he will succeed in sneaking out or stay out too late and never come back”.   
Your chest feels tight at this revelation of her situation. You know her worry is valid because similar situations have ended in tragedy in your small town. Although an incident hasn’t happened in a little while, anyone with common sense knows it doesn't mean the danger is gone. You put your hands over her’s in an attempt to comfort her. You may not have children, but you know the pain of losing loved ones and wouldn't wish that on anyone. You give her your best attempt at a smile, “I will help keep a look out for you. If I see him I will do my best to keep him safe”. You squeeze her hands to try and show that you are serious about what you said.  
She leaps up almost knocking down your mug of beer and hugs you tightly. She whispers in your ear, “Thank you so much for listening to me. I really appreciate it.” Someone from the back calls her name telling her she has been sitting long enough and she needs to get back to work. She runs off going back to her duties after apologizing for burdening you with her sob story.   
You settle back down into your chair trying to finish the rest of your dinner. You finally finish and to wash it all down you chug the rest of your disgustingly warm beer. After paying for your meal and generously tipping the waitress, you walk home as dark starts to settle onto the town. When you get home it is completely dark since your house is close to the edge of town. Before you enter your house you look off into the distance towards the forest's edge. Even though it just got dark the forest seems pitch black. You shudder as the darkness almost seems to threaten to swallow you whole if you dare enter. Before you settle down to sleep in your bed that night you double check your door to make sure it is locked.   
You suddenly find yourself awake. Greeted only by darkness. You realize you are very thirsty, probably because of the beer you had earlier. You light a candle and pour yourself a drink of water from the pitcher of water you keep in your kitchen. When you finish your drink you start to drag yourself back to bed, but then hear voices. They are faint, but they seem to be coming from outside your front door. Curious, you go to one of the windows at the front of your house and pull back the curtain.  
A few yards away you see a group of three young boys. They all seem to be looking at the forest as they discuss something, a single candle one of the boys is holding barely illuminating all of their faces. One of them looks familiar, you focus on his face as your eyes adjust to the darkness. Where have you seen that face before? They start to move closer to the forest as realization hits you, one of them is the waitresses son. You rush to the door and stand outside and call out to them and motion them to come over to you, trying not to be too loud.  
The boys jump at the sound of your voice, but seeing a friendly face they reluctantly walk over to you. The waitress’s son whispers an apology, “Sorry Miss. We didn’t mean to disturb you”.   
You frown and look down on the young boys trying to be intimidating, “What are you doing out so late. You know it is dangerous to be out so late. Especially in the woods”.  
The boys look at each other nervously until one of them decides to speak up, “We need to do this Miss. We are going to find the monster in the woods and kill it. It makes our parents and the rest of the town so scared and worried. So we are going to get rid of it for good.”  
Your expression softens as you are touched by their attempt to do something good, but you try to keep your voice stren. “I appreciate your effort, but let the adults handle this. I’m sure your parents would appreciate how much you care, but they would much rather you be safe.” You start to wonder if you could maybe walk them back home, but with more thought you realize you don’t know where any of them live.   
Your thoughts are interrupted by the waitress’s son speaking up, “Sorry Miss but to be honest the adults are too scared to do shit! If they wanted to do something they would have done it by now. So we need to do this!” They start to run off but you grab the waitress’s son by the sleeve. You are stunned when he hits you so hard that you let go. He takes out a pocket knife and points it at you. The blade gleams as the moonlight reflects off of it.   
The boy's eyes are full of sadness as he speaks, “I am so sorry Miss but we have to do this.” He starts to back up, the knife still pointed at you. After he distances himself some he turns around and sprints towards his friends.  
You stand there in shock for a few minutes. You blink and start to run after them despite the fact you are only wearing a nightgown. You can hear your heartbeat as you chase after the boys. You start to gain on them somehow. However you don’t catch up before they disappear into the woods. You suddenly stop at the edge of the woods. You look into the endless darkness. You swallow hard and try to take your first steps to follow the group of boys in, but the darkness feels menacing. You feel panic start to bubble up in your chest. Your breathing becomes more rapid as you swear you can see the darkness expand, almost as if it was trying to reach out to you to swallow you whole. Tears start to well up in your eyes and your breathing becomes more labored. You can feel your body moving but in what direction you are not sure, because at this point your tears are blurring your vision.  
Suddenly it is morning, you can hear the birds chirp as you sit up in bed. You look around confused because you don't remember running back home and going to bed after chasing the boys. But, in your panic you must have done so.   
Shit. The boys. You leap out of bed and change into a dress. Not even bothering to fix your hair before you bolt out the house. Perhaps if you go to the center of town and walk around for a bit you will bump into them and be able to confirm that they made it back ok.  
As you walk towards the town’s center something seems off. You don’t see many people walking about doing what they need to do. As you reach the town’s plaza you get your answer as to why that is. There is a large crowd gathered and there is so much yelling you can’t even make out what is being said. As you walk closer to the group you see a few men standing on the outer edges of the group. You pick one and tap on his shoulder and ask what is going on.  
He frowns and sighs as if your question is stupid, “You don’t know? A few boys went missing last night and are still not back home so the town is trying to organize a search party. He grimaces as the crowd suddenly gets louder. “As you can see it is going terribly so far”.  
Your thoughts start to race and the familiar feeling of panic bubbles up in your chest once again. You stumble around trying to find something to steady yourself on. Before you can though you feel your body give out. Right before you black out you can hear the man you just spoke to yell a string of profanities.


	6. Is It Wrong To Want To Hold Her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a brief mention of gore/blood. There wasn't any Alucard in the last chapter, so I tried to make up for that in this chapter. Enjoy!

Alucard rolls onto his back and exposes his belly In an attempt to cheer up his lady companion. He is met with a blank stare, although her eyes are on him, he can tell her mind is somewhere else. After a few seconds of whimpering to get her attention, he rolls onto his side and his body slumps in defeat.   
“Damn, usually rolling around like a new puppy is a guaranteed way to get her to smile”. He almost shakes his head at his own foolish behavior. He knows he is acting way out of character, but he almost can’t help it seeing her act like this. Every passing second he can almost hear her heart shatter into continuously smaller pieces. He almost prefers earlier when she was crying, now she looks so empty. Like if her tears carried away all her emotions with them.   
Emphasis on almost. Truthfully, he can barely deal with his own emotions of being left behind by Sypha and Trevor on a daily basis, and now he has to deal with this? He turns to look at her blank expression, poor thing she looks like she hasn’t slept in days. A twinge of guilt creeps up on him as he thinks of his earlier selfish thinking.   
Sleep. Maybe he can help her with that if he can’t make her smile. He curls his large frame around her in a protective circle with his head in her lap. He almost rethinks this move until he feels her hand on his head. If he wasn’t in his wolf form currently his cheeks would definitely be turning pink because of her touch. He starts to scold himself mentally for making such a big deal about her small sign of affection, but his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of her voice.  
“I am sorry. I am probably bumming you out. Maybe I should go back home? I don’t want to ruin your mood. Which would be a real shame considering how nice it is today.” You can’t help but sigh as you say this. You start to get up but you grunt as you feel the wolf put his whole body weight on you. You frown as you look down at him and scoff as you notice his golden orbs for eyes are shooting daggers at you. “Fine! You are so stubborn”. Though you don’t want to admit it, you are glad he doesn't want you to leave. You feel so safe and comfortable with him surrounding you like this and you are so damn tired.  
Alucard can’t help but feel a bit sad as he watches her already start to fall asleep. Being alone with her thoughts clearly has taken a toll on her. He feels a mix of anger and frustration start to bubble up inside him as he recalls her saying that when the search party went looking for the missing boys all they found was one of the boy’s severed hands gripped tightly around a bloody pocket knife. Ever since his friend’s left, he has always patrolled around the area taking care of whatever night creatures he ran into. What is strange, is he has not seen any signs of even one wandering these parts in a while, yet this tragedy has happened. He can’t help but feel at least somewhat responsible. To make it worse, his neglect has hurt his friend.  
Friend? He hesitates at the thought of considering her a friend, but then again he is currently snuggled up to her. You would have to at least be friends to be doing something like this. There is just no avoiding it. He puts his paws over his head in frustration, but his theatrics are quickly interrupted by a small snore.  
He looks up at her to find her finally asleep. It’s good she stopped fighting it, she needs rest. She looks so peaceful now. The face that was minutes ago tormented by dark thoughts, is now peacefully unaware of the world. Looking at her sleep like this makes him realize that she is a very pretty young maiden. Because of the unfortunate circumstances of their first encounter he knows she has a nice figure, but he never really had a chance to take in her facial features until now. Afterall, he was raised to never stare at a lady like that, it is rude and could understandably make a maiden uncomfortable. However, with his head in her lap like this it is not like he can look at much else right now.   
Something about her face makes her seem so approachable. If he didn’t know her already, he could walk up to her and just know somehow that she is a good person. Something about her seems so innocent, he can’t help but want to protect her.   
His eyes widen at that thought and he tries to think about something else but her sleeping face brings his mind right back to that subject. His heart starts to beat a little faster and he can feel butterflies start to form in his stomach. In an attempt to distract himself he tries to think about how he can perhaps patrol the woods more often to try and find what is probably a night creature causing all this harm. They aren’t very smart, so maybe he just needs to be out more often to find it.   
Suddenly he hears a small whimper escape from her lips. He looks up to find her still asleep. He almost starts to wonder if he is hearing things when she whimpers again. This time her body twitches some. She must be having a nightmare. He thinks back to when he used to have nightmares as a child. He tried so hard to be independent and not bother his parents when they happened but sometimes he just needed someone's touch to calm him down. His heart aches some as he recalls his mom holding him and whispering into his ear until he fell back asleep. Maybe his companion needs the same. But, would it even be appropriate for him to touch her like that? Especially, since she is not even conscious to consent to such a thing. Plus, it is not like he ever held Sypha when she was upset. But then again, at least Trevor was there to do that for her. No one is here but him in this situation.   
His thoughts are interrupted by her mumbling panicked nonsense in her sleep. She then grabs a chunk of his fur and pulls on it. Alucard can’t help but yelp loudly and scramble away from her grip. He looks at her, expecting her to have been awoken by his noises and his movement, but somehow she was still asleep and with a chunk of his fur in her hand nonetheless.. Her sleeping face is now twisted up in discomfort. She almost looks like she is in pain. He almost wants to wake her, but he thinks twice since sometimes waking someone in the middle of having sleep terrors could result in them waking up panicked and lead to them maybe hurting themselves.   
“Fuck it.” He mutters as he shifts into his human form. He frowns when he hears her whimper again. He approaches her slowly and kneels down in front of her sleeping form that is leaned against her favorite tree. He gently puts her hands in his. She whimpers again and her body twitches at his touch. He hesitates, but then puts his forehead to hers and whispers, “Shhh, it is ok. You are safe. I am here. I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you.”  
He is pleased when he sees her body relax. His thoughts about his mother comforting him almost makes him want to hold her the same way. If that helped comfort him, why wouldn’t it help her? But he decides against it, it seems a bit much for someone who is just a friend. Instead he sits next to her and carefully places her head on his shoulder.   
Maybe he should take this opportunity to nap as well? After all, he will have a lot of patrolling to do tonight.


	7. This Time I am Going To Do What's Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Lots of action in this chapter. Content warning for blood, gore, and mention of rape. I tried not to be too graphic but I do love/hate a good gory scene so I apologize if I went overboard since I know that is not everyone's cup of tea. So I tried my best to keep it somewhat balanced. Unfortunately also not much of Alucard in this chapter until the very end. But i will definitely make up for it next chapter!

Today is a terrible day for a town meeting, you think as you wipe your brow and squint under the relentless heat of the sun. Summer hasn’t even officially started yet, but this weather certainly does not seem to care what everyone’s calendars say. Your attention shifts once you hear a man try to get everyone’s attention to get the meeting started.  
The whole town has been in a state of shock since the three boys went missing. By now all hope of them still being alive has disappeared but everyone has had enough of events like that happening. Today is the day the whole town is getting together to search the woods and getting rid of any night creatures or other potential hazards to the community. It seems everyone’s fear is now transformed to collective anger.   
You try your best to listen in on the plan for tonight, but your thoughts keep shifting to different subjects. You couldn’t help but feel a strange mix of excitement and extreme guilt at the thought of being part of the extermination team. It took a lot of arguing to be a part of this. You are one of a handful of women who were allowed to be a part of this. Most think it would be best to leave this task to all the healthy young men in town and that anyone else would get in the way. However, you are stubborn, and you need to be a part of this so you could make up for your mistake. After all, if you had stopped the boys there would be no need for this to be happening currently.  
After the town meeting you decided it would be best to head straight home and rest for tonight’s task. Although you doubt you could get yourself to take any kind of nap, you figured you could at least take it easy so you wouldn’t slow down the group due to you being exhausted. As soon as you got home you sat in bed with a novel you have been reading. The town meeting must have been a larger emotional toll on you than you thought because after a few chapters you felt yourself drifting off to sleep.   
You jolted awake suddenly, your heart racing as you wondered if you slept past the time the group was supposed to meet before heading off into the woods. You frantically look out the window to see the sun has not yet started setting, but will soon. You breathe a sigh of relief and get up to get dressed and splash some cold water in your face using the basin you keep on top of your dresser. You tie your hair up in a bun and start to head out the door, but pause. If you run into trouble, how will you defend yourself? Your eyes dart around until you see your carving knife. You grab it and run out the door to meet at the rendezvous point.   
When you got there the sun had started to set and everyone was being split into groups of five. You ended in a group with four other young men who didn’t seem ecstatic about having a woman in their group. The four men begrudgingly introduce themselves to you as the group starts to head towards the part of the woods they were designated to search.   
It was pitch dark now that everyone had dispersed into their smaller groups and have been searching for about two hours now. Each group only had a torch plus a spare to help them navigate the dark woods. You felt a little lonely as you trailed behind the four young men as they chatted amongst themselves while patrolling the area. However, you feel a twinge of anger because you feel as if they aren’t taking this seriously since they seem to be focused more on their conversation rather than scanning the area.   
Your heart jumps as you hear some rustling coming from a bush a few feet to the right of your group. “D-Did you guys hear that”? Your voice is shaky but you do your best to speak loud enough to get the men in your group to hear you. They nod at your comment and the young man holding the torch moves so that the light from the fire is illuminating that area. The other three ready their weapons. You follow their cue and take out your knife. After a few more seconds of rustling the enemy exits the bush to reveal itself.  
A raccoon scampers out from under the bush making noises as it scuttles away with something in its mouth. Presumably it’s dinner. The four men start laughing about you being spooked at nothing. Your cheeks heat up from embarrassment and you hang your head as you put your knife away. After some more teasing the young men start the patrol up again and you trail slightly behind them so you don’t have to listen to their teasing.   
After another hour of searching one of the guys shout back at you that the torch is burning to a stub and that the group should probably head back to town. The other three groan and whine about they didn’t find anything during this and they were disappointed about not being able to fight a night creature. You nod in acknowledgement and continue to trail behind them quietly. After a few minutes of walking you swear you hear a noise a few feet behind you, but not wanting to embarrass yourself again you keep quiet.   
After a little while you hear something again. This time you decide to look behind you to see what it might be. Probably, another racoon, but it wouldn’t hurt to look. You pause then look into the darkness behind you to be greeted by nothing. You shrug and start your trek forward again when you trip on a tree root. You curse when your body hits the ground with a soft thud. You lay there for a moment and groan at the pain. You stand back up and brush the dirt off you and sigh. You start to walk forward when panic suddenly settles into your stomach as you realize you are all alone. The young men probably didn’t notice you fell and kept on going without you. You try to calm yourself down and think about how if you run you can probably catch up with them fairly quickly. You try to step forward but yelp in pain. “Shit. I twisted my ankle. How am I going to catch up now?” You ponder your options for a few seconds when you hear a low growl behind you.   
You freeze up as the panic in your gut intensifies immensely. Instinctively you turn back to see what made the noise and you regret that move immediately because the creature behind you is an image taken straight from hell. It’s body is animalistic, yet it walks on two legs like a man. The fingers on it’s hangs are unnervingly long, and to make it worse it has long claws growing out from those fingers. You can feel tears start to well up in your eyes as you take in its face. It has an elongated face with horns like a deer, but it has 5 eyes that are fixated on you. Its mouth is slightly ajar which displays it’s unnaturally white canines that almost glow in the darkness. You start to take out your knife, but the creature suddenly lunges at you. You manage to draw your knife out fast enough and plunge it into one of the creature's hands. It lets out a shriek that makes your ears ring. You try to hobble away, but the creature swipes at you in retaliation. It hits you so hard that the wind gets knocked out of you and you fall down and start to roll down the hill you are on. You keep rolling until your body slams into a tree with a worrying crack. You groan and tears start to leak out of your eyes because of the pain, but the adrenaline pumping through your body gives you enough strength to get up. You start to hobble in some random direction trying to create more distance between you and the night creature. Your breathing is heavy and pain shoots through your body with every step. You can hear it’s heavy footsteps in the distance. In a desperate attempt to save yourself, you try your best to run trying to disregard the fact that you are probably making your ankle worse.   
Unfortunately, all your effort is in vain because the creature eventually catches up to you and tackles you to the ground. You try to fight back but in a few seconds it has you pinned down. Blood trickles down your arms as its claws dig into you. You start to sob at the fact that your death is near.   
The creature makes a strange raspy noise that sounds like a chuckle. To your surprise it starts speaking to you. You have never heard any accounts of night creatures being able to speak, but considering the fact monsters like this exist you can’t say you're surprised either. You can hear it’s voice clearly despite the fact it isn’t even moving it’s mouth to speak.  
It looms over you and you can smell it’s hot breath makes you want to puke because it smells like meat that has been sitting out and rotting for weeks. It’s grotesquely long tongue licks along its snout, “Why do you weep, whore? Any maiden with a shred of decency knows the dangers of going out at night especially alone. You have brought this onto yourself. Actually, you should be thankful. At least I will make your death swift. What if the men in your group had turned on you while you were with them? They surely would have pinned you down and ravished you and taken advantage of the situation to soil your purity. Although, I am sure deep down you know this...which makes you almost worse than any loose woman on the street. You pretend to be innocent but truly you are a lustful and sinful woman who does nothing to protect her virginity”.   
Your sobs become more hysterical at the insults and at the thought that your fellow townsfolk would take advantage of you being alone. In an attempt to justify your actions you choke out your justification, “N-No! They wouldn’t do that! I just wanted to do what is right! I j-just wanted to help.” Plus in your mind that isn’t fair to you, lately you could say you have been more careful. Since nowadays you have a four legged protector by your side whenever you visit the woods. Oh, how you will miss him dearly.  
The creature lets out something between a hearty laugh and a growl, “No point in trying to defend your character. I have watched you walk these woods alone a few times. If not me, eventually some other misfortune would befall upon you. Perhaps a lonely traveler who would see you as a perfect opportunity to satisfy their desires and then chop you up to get rid of evidence.”  
He shifts on top of you and moves his large, clawed hands under your breasts and starts to push down slowly squeezing the air out of you, any more pressure surely your ribs would crack. He brings his mouth to your neck and as he opens his large maw warm saliva drips down onto your face and neck. His hot breath hits your neck, “Not that I would blame any man for doing so, you are a fine maiden and it is almost a shame my only desire is to devour you…”  
You hear rustling as if someone has run quickly past some bushes. The creature suddenly lifts most of his weight off you and screams, “You! Traitor!!” through your tear blurred vision you see the creature swipe at someone, but it’s reaction is too late. A moment later you see a flash of metal in the moonlight and the creature's head separate from the body. You can feel it’s blood fall down onto you but it feels cold instead of warm. As if someone is pouring ice water onto you. You close your eyes, your injuries and the shock of what is happening is making it harder to stay conscious.   
You hear a worried and hurried voice call your name but for some reason you can’t really discern exactly what they are saying. The words become more muffled by the second and you feel someone start to sit you up, their touch is so gentle, it reminds you of when your mother would hold you as a child. However since they are closer now you realize that this is a man's voice. The last thing you hear before fully going under is him apologizing. It is a shame he sounds so distressed, it would be so nice to hear his beautiful voice sound less somber.


	8. The Pest In The Woods

On nights he can’t sleep, which has been many lately, Alucard often patrols through the woods to soak in the forest nightlife. For the most part he does this because the sounds of nature at night are soothing to him, especially the singing of the crickets. Although his parents educated him on the arts as a young child, singing was one he could never seem to get a grasp on. He recalls his mother trying her best not to laugh during his first singing lesson as a child because no matter how many times his father instructed him to repeatedly sing any range of notes, something was always a little off. After a few more failed lessons, his family collectively decided it would be best to just teach him the technicalities of music and leave actual performance to those with more talent. 

Alucard’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sudden shift in the atmosphere. The air suddenly had a bit of weight to it and he could pick up the faint smell of sulfur and decaying flesh. This smell is not one unfamiliar to him, usually it is an indicator that one of his father’s atrocities is out causing havoc somewhere. Since his arrival in the area there has been a drastic decrease in the number of night creatures in the area, due to his nightly walks, but a new group always tries to settle in after some time has passed despite the fact they haven’t had any success lately. Alucard summons his sword and frowns, “They are like rats. One can try their best to control the population, but it feels like you barely make a dent no matter how many you kill”. 

After a few minutes of running through the woods at an incredible speed, that awful smell finally seems to be getting closer. Although probably not even five minutes have passed, he can feel frustration building up in his chest. The faster he finds the night creature, the better. It is best to dispatch it as swiftly as possible to minimize the damage it could cause. The sudden smell of blood and the sound of sobbing in the distance stops him in his tracks. He takes a moment to listen for what direction the distress is coming from. He can’t help but also think that something about this blood smells familiar. He shakes off that thought as he starts to rush towards the scene. Every second is critical now, it might not be too late to save whoever is in trouble. 

Due to the adrenaline now pumping through his body, he arrives at the scene of the action in less than a minute. The creature hasn’t noticed him yet and seems to be speaking to whatever poor soul it has pinned down. As he readies his sword it makes the satisfying sound of a freshly sharpened blade cutting through the air. This alerts the night creature and it starts to turn around and prepare an attack. It screeches something at him but at this point Alucard chooses to ignore whatever it's saying so he can save the victim. The creature is too slow and the sound of blade through flesh echoes through the forest and it’s head lands onto the ground with a soft thud. Alucard winces as the cold blood splashes against the side of his face. He uses his other senses to see if there might be any other night creatures around, but to his relief he does not sense any which means he can focus on the state of the victim. 

At the realization of who the victim is he yells your name before having the chance to think about his actions. It’s not like you would recognize his voice and respond. Right now he is a total stranger to you in his present form. Despite this reality setting in, words of worry keep pouring out of his mouth. You seem conscious, but you aren’t responding to anything. “Stay with me darling” Alucard coos as he holds your face with one hand and feels around your body for injuries with the other. This is far from his first time saving someone but it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep his emotions in check right now. Each injury he finds fills him with more worry. “Why do I feel this way? We barely know each other…” He grits his teeth and mutters to himself as he thinks of what to do. 

“I need to take her to the castle to properly treat some of these wounds, but I can’t keep her too long because I don’t want to potentially traumatize her by having her wake up in a stranger’s home”. By now you have passed out and he scoops you up in his arms as carefully as possible. “She will probably be out for a little while, I can treat her throughout the night and figure out a way to get her back home without having to interact with anyone while I do so. He takes a deep breath to clear his thoughts as he starts to rush back to the castle, doing his best not to jostle the precious cargo in his arms.


End file.
